November 2016 Cover Poll

Written by Sports Car Market

Our Art Director, David Tomaro, has created three possible cover concepts, and we’d like to know which one is your favorite. It should all take less than a minute, and your answers help determine the content of our magazine. Voting ends Friday, September 16, at Midnight PST. If you have any additional thoughts about SCM, regarding either the print magazine or our electronic newsletter, please post them in the comments section below.

This year’s Monterey auctions totaled $343m. Compared to last year’s $397m, that represents a $54m decline. What do you think that means for the market?

Not much. The car market is strong. This year’s total is just a reflection of inevitable peaks and valleys in any market, but it’s not cause for alarm.

This downturn is an indication of the market changing. Great cars are bringing great money, while prices on anything but the best blue-chip cars are cooling off.

The sky is falling! The bubble is bursting. Better sell now while you still can!

21 comments

Re your market question . . .RM had significantly less cars due to the Portola renovation so you are not structly comparing ‘apples with apples’. That said Mecum are having more higher end cars which may have offset the stats a little the other way.

I was a driver at RS this year for the first time. Great fun!
My impression is that many of the owners were thinking big dollars and the buyers with deep pockets were not there.
Most of the buyers were educated and knew what they were looking for and many of the sellers were not up to speed.

Good point, Mark. One thing that struck me is how many of the high end cars at Mecum fail to sell on the block. Given the real time flexability with commissions Mecom shows, I wonder why more don’t move. This seems to be a common situation with exotics and Mecom.

It is a very difficult choice between the gorgeous photograph of the D-Jag and ‘Ole Shel’s original Cobra. Both are outstanding shots. Among the best ever. Solution!! Print one for the November issue and one for December!
I agree with the reader below in that ACC needs more cars and SCM’s percentage of American cars covered has slipped badly. SCM used to cover a greater percentage of American iron than it does now and I hope they will go back towards covering more American cars. Step away from the X1/9, sir!

How many people know that worm and sector Cobra interior photo is from the one and only first Shelby Cobra? I know that production/distribution of a newstand magazine is difficult, but I would be willing to pay substantially more for my subscription to have more coverage of Monterey (and Scottsdale?) auction results. Just compare the relatively minor auctions covered in issues prior to the Monterey results issue. Every Miura and Cobra deserve a postage stamp entry, at least. Just the wish of a fan of SCM.

Maybe it’s the extra cup of coffee this morning before reading this post but ……..gotta have the Cobra. Kept trying to remember the song (Beach Boys I think) about run little cobra……
I love my LBC’s but we do need to see more American iron.

All three cars are unique among their model and a history that makes them far more valuable than any others of their kind, i.e., winner of Le Mans driven by very famous team; the very first Cobra, color changed to fool public & journalists, owned by Shelby himself until he died; and one of only a handful hand-built by Bertone. The resulting prices cannot be duplicated for those reasons (except if there is another Bertone A-M that goes up for sale). None are representative of a market trend except as an indicator that there are collectors with incredibly deep pockets who will pay such extraordinary prices for one-of-a-kind cars. This was a tough choice!

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